Sewing
Handmade Gift: Easy Stuffed Owl
This weekend we celebrated my niece’s 2nd birthday. Caroline just seems to get cuter with every day that goes by. The night before her birthday I was inspired to make her a new stuffed animal, hoping it would go better than my attempts at making a doll the previous winter.
I remembered that my friend Sunny had posted an awesome template and tutorial for a stuffed owl that looked foolproof, aka Janeproof. I printed it out, and gave it a shot. The results were awesome!
Note: If you don’t have a sewing machine, I still think you could do this project. sure, the hand-stitching to pull the back and front together could be tiresome, but not too bad. Just pop on a movie or something!
It took me about two hours, but most of that time was spent with indecision as to what fabrics to use. It was really quite simple, and I highly recommend following Sunny’s template. It’s also a great way to use up fun fabric scraps, for those of you who can’t bear to throw anything out. ;)
First, I pinned the template to my fabric, then cut out the back and front of the owl. I cut about 1 inch wider than the template all around, so that it would be a little bit bigger.
Then i grabbed my fabric scraps and had a blast mixing up colors and patterns. Knowing that little kids are very tactile, I also added some different textures, from the chartreuse velvet owl front to the fleece eyes and a silky minky fleece pocket (white) on the back.
Once I had all the pieces laid out, I ironed them into place with some fusible webbing. Then I used a zig-zag stitch on my machine to sew them into place and prevent edge fraying.
And because I just couldn’t stop there, I hand-stitched a little silk heart onto the pocket.
Finally, I turned the pieces wrong-side out and stitched the sides together, leaving a small hole in the bottom for me to turn it right-side out. Then I stuffed that owl full of polyester fiberfill, and hand-stitched the bottom opening closed.
Here is the finished owl, in all his or her glory!
As for my niece – she seemed to love it. She pulled it out of the bag and squealed with happiness: “My owl!” (And to think I was worried she may not know what it was.)
Caroline is just the cutest kid ever. Hopefully she’ll love the owl and it will stand up to her 2-year-old antics and beatings and heaven knows what else she may inflict upon it. If not, then I’ve always got more fun fabrics in the overflowing scrap bin.
Huge thanks to Sunny for sharing the awesome tutorial!
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My Quick-n-Easy Fabric Banner {Tutorial}
Good morning! It’s such a perfect morning here in Virginia. There’s a slight cool breeze drifting in my window as I write. It’s welcomed treat after those weeks of horrible heat.
Speaking of mornings, I’m really enjoying getting up earlier and sitting here writing to you guys while sipping my cup of coffee. It’s such a great way to start my day before heading to the office. Yes, I just said “writing to you guys.” That’s how I view this blogging business, because I feel like it’s kind of like writing a really detailed letter to far away friends. 
Anyhow, I recently went to Richmond to celebrate one of my bff’s birthdays. When the other bff and I were planning, she asked if I could help with decorating because it’s not really her thing. Let me tell you about the convo that ensued, because I think it illustrates the difference in mindset between us DIY bloggers and non-bloggers :) Read the rest of this entry »
Blogger Spotlight: Kristi {A Nest in the Making}
It’s a craaaazy week at the Borrowed Abode. In between praying and chanting and sacrificing throw pillows in the hopes that the powers that be change their weather plans and don’t actually deliver “severe thunderstorms” for the Viva Vienna festival, I’m finishing up my 50 throw pillows (think I went overboard a little?) and other tasks.
. . . wow, that was a killer run-on sentence.
I discovered that one of my readers, Kristi, has a fun blog where she is sharing her fabulous sewing projects – and I knew I had to ask her to give you all a peek. She’s pretty new to the sewing thing, yet she’s already churned out a ton of awesome projects!
If any of you are thinking about sewing, or wishing you could sew, hopefully Kristi will inspire you and give you the courage to just give it a go! I love her positive attitude and let’s-just-dive-in approach to sewing.
Sew without further ado. . .
Hi! My name is Kristi and I’m the proud blogger over at A Nest in the Making! I’ve been blogging (technically) since October of last year, but I’ve been back again since mid April! I’m very much new to this whole blogging world which is why I was over-the-top excited when Jane asked me to do a guest post! I mean, seriously, you can ask my husband! I absolutely adore Jane’s blog! She has such great ideas, she’s real, and she gives advice to newbies! Perfection! Anyway, I am a wife, a mother, an accountant (say wah!?), a runner, and newly a sewer seamstress… yes seamstress is a much better word! (ick sewer!)
I’ve been sewing since April when I borrowed a machine from a friend at work. I think that sewing is the creative outlet I lost when I stopped being so involved in music. Don’t get me wrong, I put on an insane shower concert, but growing up my outlet was always choir and orchestra and since I don’t do either anymore . . . sewing is my new “thing!” And let me tell you . . . I LOVE it! I love the instant-gratification of making something. I can make something for function, or for fun, but I always end up so proud of what I’ve made!
My first foray into sewing clothes was to make a black knit tank (below). I used a tutorial I found online (link in my post) and had such a great time making it! This was my first attempt at making something for myself. I was so scared to try, and once I made it I was so scared to wear it out. Since then this shirt has gone to church once and to the office twice. It was an absolute hit and gave me so much confidence to continue sewing and try more projects!
I’ve never really been a purse girl, but when I saw the tutorial for this Bias-Tape Bag I was thrilled! For mother’s day, I made myself this purse. This was my first experience with bias tape and I forsee many more purses in my future! And I know it’s not necessary, but seriously how fun is it to have a matching wallet?! Ugh! Love it! I couldn’t find a tutorial for the exact wallet I wanted so I just made it up as I went! Luckily, I remembered how I made it and made a quick tutorial! I also made a matching pouch to hold my girlie accessories! Seriously, I was having too much fun!
I put off making anything for my son for a while. I think I was worried about making something “good enough” for my little man! After making my adorable purse, I bit the bullet and went for it! I made a placemat for when we go out to eat. We go out every Sunday after church, and I’ve worked in restaurants . . . I know how well those high chairs/tables are cleaned! With his new place mat, I don’t have to worry about setting finger food down for him to feed himself! It also holds a fork and a spoon for him to feed himself play with!
The last project I want to share with you is probably my favorite so far. It came from a bored night at home. I was flipping through my fabric stash and this fabric just screamed spring skirt to me! I wasn’t really in the mood to follow directions (I’m not the only one who has days like that am I?) so I just invented this skirt as I went. The elastic really works with this skirt. I can pull it low and make it appropriate for the office, or pull it up a little bit and wear it with a t-shirt around town!
Thank you so much, Jane, for featuring me!
- – -
No – Thank you, Kristi, for giving us a peek at your awesome creations! Didn’t she do an awesome job? I’m especially loving her purse!
Finally, I asked Kristi if she had a bit of advice for those of you who may think sewing is too hard, or anyone new to sewing. Here’s what she had to say:
My advice would be to try it. You can sit back and look at the pretty things and think “I could never do that!” and if you don’t ever try you’re 100% right. Give it a shot! There’s no way it can turn out worse than not trying at all! And you just might surprise yourself.
Amen! If you’re as impressed by her projects as I am, be sure to stop over to Kristi’s blog and show her a little love!
PS: I love sharing the awesomeness of other bloggers - so if you’d like to share a project or just plain be featured on The Borrowed Abode, drop me a line! borrowedabode@gmail.com
{Craft Fair Prep} What’s happening in my studio?
Yesterday was so freakin’ fantastic. Desperately in need of more prep time before next weekend’s big craft fair, I took a day off work without pay (because I’m low on vacation time). I spent the day and night sewing, and though I went to bed that night with an aching back and pin-pricked fingers, it felt good.
I discovered my computer has a camera that takes collage photos :)
I already know that ideally I’d like to build a small company where I design products, and have my employees produce them (because I don’t want to spend all day every day hunched over the machine) but you have to start somewhere, and put in the hard work yourself. And it was fun, sitting there by the open window, listening to a combination of thunder, rain, and some fantastically loud dance tunes. I was seriously on fire!
The funny thing was, I was way more productive than I am on weekends – and I think it was all about my state of mind. I simply approached Wednesday as if it were a true working day, where I had to work from morning to night; not a weekend where I “hoped to get work done.” Does that make sense? It’s silly, but true – and it’s something I want to remember for future “working weekends” so that I can maximize my productivity. There was also something invigorating about the knowledge that, if I do a good enough job, that truly *could* become my typical work day.
These guys certainly would like for that to be a typical work day. They have a lot more fun (or so they think) when someone’s home with them to let them in and out about 20x a day. And when they’re not busy going in and out, or barking at the mail man, they are happy just being my cheerleaders:
Back to the work day. I finished up a ton of fun and colorful throw pillows – all the while remaining impressed with my self-taught invisible zipper skills. Mad skillz, yo.
While working, I enjoyed the fruits of my new organizing labor. What organizing, you may wonder? Well even though it’s not readily apparent, I implemented a bit more of a system for product creation.
I had all these stacks of pillow covers in various stages of completion – and finally I realized that I should create labeled spots for them. The only open space was on the top of my shelving unit:
Because time was of the essence, I didn’t go for a fancy, blog-worthy approach – I just made my piles, and then labeled them with some tape and a marker. “Ready to sew” “Piece Together” “Zipped” “To Finish” and then scraps. I’m temporarily using a few cardboard boxes (which I have collected for a fun new up-cycling project!) to keep things sorted, as you can see.
Another part of the day was spent dissecting ugly old blazers and suit jackets. (This task is especially productive when paired with episodes of Ally McBeal on Netflix. ) Wait, what?
That’s right, I’m totally reincarnating ugly 1980′s style powersuits as fun, modern pillows (and other things). Finally, there’s a good use for those women’s 2XL fuschia and orange blazers that go to Goodwill to die. And yes, I’m watching Ally McBeal.
I thought this nubby maroon blazer went particularly well with the modern Calliope print by Jessica Jones. Isn’t it a fun combo?
I haven’t photographed many of the products yet, but here’s just a bit of a teaser.
I’m loving playing around with collage pillows, where I use strips of different fabrics. This one is made with various Japanese fabrics as well as some cotton velvet:
A gratuitous shot of my sexy lil’ invisible zipper :)
I also used some of that Japanese fabric to make some fun little sunglasses cases. Actually, they’re not so little. I sized them a bit bigger and wider than you might be used to – because I was tired of finding cases that were too narrow to hold my big, wide sunglasses – you know how the big fat glasses are so popular right now.
I also made some cases from scraps of felted (shrunken) wool sweaters and quilting cottons. I LOVE them. Big-fat-sloppy-wet-kisses love them.
Let’s take a moment to talk about this item. I had NO intentions of making sunglass holders. None whatsoever. But I just was inspired one day, and grabbed some scraps and played around. And I had so much fun, and the idea worked, so I decided to make more. I really love mixing and matching fabrics and textures, and finding new uses for old fabrics.
And speaking of reusing old fabrics, would you like for me to share some tutorials for making items like this in the future? I’d really like to learn how to make patterns, actually, because a part of this process that I like the most is the figuring-out of how to create things.
And. . . now this blog has gone down the path of rambling. Perhaps that’s a cue for me to end it . . . and get back to sewing. Or making dinner. I have no idea where Ryan is, I came home from work and thought he was on a conference call in his office, but I just checked and he’s no where to be found. His car is in the driveway. So I think I’ll make bacon-wrapped chorizo sausage. Yes, you read that right. Bacon-wrapped-sausage. It was that kind of day. And we have both in the fridge.
Next up: I’ll share how I’ve created a simple little inventory system to track items and prices.
The Many Sizes of Throw Pillows
In the midst of sewing yesterday (gotta make over 100 products before the arts festival this spring!) I ran into a conundrum.
I need your help. In addition to dog and cat beds, I’m making some awesome coordinating pillows and pillow covers – and it seems there are several sizes of pillow inserts. You know I’m all about using what you have on hand, so I want my pillow covers to easily work for pillows my customers already have in the house.
I’ve done some research, and square ones come in 16″, 18″, and 20″ sizes and rectangular ones come in 12 x 16″ and 14 x 28″.
Which sizes do you think are most common around the home?
From fabric scraps to fall decor
I’m a total hypocrite!!
I rolled my eyes when I read that Martha Stewart suggested changing out throw pillows and other home decor accessories with the seasons. Who can afford to do that, not to mention have the room for storing all that crap? (Aside from Martha.)
But now I’m heading straight to my non-seasonal mirror to roll my eyes at myself, since I accidentally made a few fall pillows for my sofa. I could afford to, because I only used fabrics I already had. See, the other day the pillow shams from my old bedroom set caught my eye. Sitting in my closet, the rust-colored fabric had me thinking – “Why not?”
I’ll skip the tutorial because there’s already good ones out there – like this one from Betz White. Suffice to say I cut up the king-size pillow shams and sewed them into square “envelope” pillow covers that open in the back for ease of use. Envelope covers are my fave, because there is no fighting with a zipper when you sew them!
Once the pillow cases were made, I surprised myself by finding a ton of earthy fabric scraps in my stockpile. I sketched and printed some shapes onto scrap paper, cut them out, and used them as templates to make a few little seasonal appliques for the pillows. Some brown microfiber fabric became a bird and a branch, while an old strip of burlap made some fun textured acorns and leaves. With only an hour to spare before company arrived, I laid out my designs and used fabric glue to adhere the appliques to the pillow cases. Oh, I was so excited and impressed with myself!
I love my pillows. They provide a touch of fall ambiance and provide a cozy cushion for those rainy days that require curling up with a warm mug of cider and a good book. Plus, my sofa needed a splash of color. Bonus: because they’re just pillow covers, they can be easily removed, folded, and stored when not in use during the other seasons.
Shared at Upcycled Awesome at The T-Shirt Diaries, Sew Much Ado, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, and Someday Crafts. Hop on over to these blogs to see a slew of other great fall decor ideas!
Introducing: {Re}fashion
As a kid I dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. But my parents felt that I should get a music degree, as it was apparently “more useful.” Hm. Well, my degree from a good liberal arts school did help me score a corporate gig that’s made my life a lot easier, at least financially. But it’s done nothing to satisfy my drive to create things with my hands. I’ve felt especially oppressed lately, now that I sit in a small, dark cubicle.
So when I’m not working, blogging, or working on my future business, I’ve got a new hobby. It stems from my creative, fashion-designer-wanna-be urge and an even stronger drive to not purchase new clothes, but to work with what’s on hand: Refashioning old, awkward, boring, or downright ugly garments into fabulous new pieces that I actually want to wear.
It all started in May, with my new sewing machine and a $1 thrifted little black dress that I purchased four years ago. As I was packing for my long weekend in South Beach with my favorite ladies, I realized I didn’t have a little black dress. And you’ve got to have a little black dress for Miami, especially when you’re hanging out here:
and here:
So I grabbed that ankle-length $1 dress, hemmed it short, and changed the two-spaghetti-strap neckline to a one-shoulder neckline, and created:
The one dollar little black dress.
credit: Photos by Crysty
Oh, how I wish I’d taken a before picture.
I loved my one-dollar-dress so much that I wore it out every night. Paired with my favorite shoes, I felt like a million bucks instead of $1.
If you dig this fun and frugal hobby as much as I do, then stay tuned for the next installment of {Re}Fashion next week, when I share a revamp of my mom’s 1960′s era hipppie dress.
Is there anything gathering dust in your closet that you think you could rework into a fun piece you’d actually wear?
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Fabric Wrestling
The entirety of last night was spent wrestling with fabric. Do you know how hard it is to handle 12 yards of fabric?
I had to resort to the floor, where I cut the fabric for our master bedroom drapes. My cats attempted to hinder my progress as much as possible.
If only I could have made them do the ironing.
With the drama of The Bachelorette entertaining me, I got two panels, and their liner fabric, cut. Then I pinned and sewed one panel.
Let’s recap, shall we? I spent all night working. And at bedtime, what did I have to show for my hard work? One single lined drapery panel. Three more to go.
Slow going? Yes. Highly satisfactory? Absolutely.
I’m not going to share a peek of the finished curtain hanging on the wall – yet. But I will tell you that we made the perfect fabric choice.
Sidenote: my [very hairy] black cat has a penchant for white surfaces. Whenever we introduce a new white fabric surface into the home, she is drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Weird, huh?
Update: Click here for the finished product!
